Jobless rate sneaks up as we work longer hours

THE jobless rate ticked up slightly last month to 5.7%, on the back of increasing numbers of full-time workers turning part-time or losing work altogether.

Jobs data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Thursday showed only a small fall in the unemployment rate during October.

But the year to date figures showed a fall of 62,700 men out of full time work, with similar fall for women in full-time work.

Most of that fall was made up for by a rise of nearly 150,000 people getting part-time work.

The figures showed the national jobless rate rose 0.1% in October, or an extra 9100 Australians out of work, despite a 1100 rise in the number of employed people during the month.

In Queensland, the unemployment rate remained steady on 5.9% while in New South Wales, it rose from 5.6% in September to 5.9% by the end of October.

People continue to work longer hours, with seasonally adjusted "hours worked" figures showing a 6.2 million hour rise on September data, bringing the total number of hours worked in Australia to over 1.6 billion hours.